800 Challenge - 2013 That's a wrap!

2014 has kicked off with a bang if the traffic in uptown Johannesburg is anything to judge these things by! To close off last year's challenge one or two stats:

Southern Right Whale - in "Whale" Bay

We covered a little over 100000 km cumulatively ie: over the duration of the year, inclusive of commercial / chartered flights, ships, boats, vehicles, buses, flat-bed trucks, rickshaws, bikes, ferry, by helicopter, by horse-back & in a makoro. I have no idea how many kilometers we walked.. but if the bathroom scale is anything to go by probably fewer than we should have!

We spent 151 days in the field ie: away from home. We saw 825 species from end to end and from pillar to post within the sub-region.

Over the period we did 4 trips to Namibia; 3 trips to Botswana; 2 trips to Zimbabwe; 2 trips to Mozambique; 1 trip each to Lesotho & Swaziland (transit). Most of the cross-border trips we kept as short as possible, a function of necessity rather than by design or preference. Our longest trip (12 days) was to Namibia's northern region incl. of Kunene & the Zambezi region (Caprivi).

The Namib desert / Namibia

We flew most of the major domestic routes at least once & as many as 10 times ie: to Cape Town. Exclude PE & Bloemfontein from that list. We missed our flight to PE & who flies to Bloem..? The only 'international' flight was the flight to Windhoek (Namibia). The other cross-border trips we did by vehicle.

If pushed to pick a favourite trip I would have to say central Mozambique & for reasons unrelated to the birds. [See the 'Stranded out to sea..' blog for some insight.] Alisha, by comparison, prefers Namibia over most other spots. The most surprising cross-border trip was to Zimbabwe's Mana Pools area. This was our 1st trip to the north of Zimbabwe & to be fair, a highlight & somewhere we'll return to as soon as we can.

My bird of the year - African Pitta [inside 3 m / Coutada 12 - Moz]
Alisha's bird of the year - Spotted Creeper [party of 4 / Marondera - Zimbabwe].
Surprise of the year - 2 Grass Owls 8:30 pm, in torrential rain; Ongoye -KZN. [also happens to be Alisha's 'worst trip of the year' - see blog post 'Ongoye -Muddy bloody barbet']
Dip of the year - Pintado Petrel..! [The sparrow of the winter seas]

Species seen by Alisha or by myself but not by both of us & therefore excluded:

Eurasian Blackcap - Marondera; Zim (Alisha & 3 others)
Lesser Seedcracker - Mt. Gorongosa; Moz (Mark & 1 other)
Amsterdam Albatross (Probable) - Zest pelagic; SA (Mark et al)
Slender-billed Prion - Zest pelagic; SA (Mark et al)

Probables excluded - ID inconclusive

Gull-billed Tern - (Kgomo Kgomo; SA) Photographs inconclusive

Sunnyside-up

Zambezi Indigobird - (Masoka Village; Zim) Impossible to separate from other non-br indigobirds.

Possibles (excl): -

Yellow-bellied Hyliota - Chinizuia; Mozambique

Birds heard only: -

Madagascar Cuckoo - Biyamiti; KNP
Basra Reed Warbler (probable) - near Caia, Sofala [Moz]

To conclude we added 30 (approx) new species to our regional life list and we added 60 (approx) 'photographic' lifers over the period.

A Big City Triple Crown - a winning trifecta...!

White-breasted Cuckooshrike - Groenkloof [Pretoria]

Out the stalls I make no apologies for the quality of these images. A roughie or an odds-on favourite makes no difference at the tote if you're holding the winning ticket..! [The misguided adventures of my youth - Law-school was expensive...]

Big City birding is AWT (All weather racing) and it's not for the faint of heart. When word filters through that a bomber [rarity] has hit home-track you take the bit and run.. 

Pretoria's Groenkloof NR is a true Blue Hen & is fast becoming the region's rarity-mecca. Late Monday's FB-post that a White-breasted Cuckooshrike had been seen a few days earlier was a neon-light attention-grabber. In hand and having appraised the house-highweight (Alisha) of the impending stampede we made our way through to Groenkloof early next morning, as did most of the usual grandstand-membership. Although blown on the walk up the ridge and pulled-up short on the phone to confirm the sighting, there is no joy, in this game, more crystal-pure than a mega [a bomber- see above] in perfect stride. 

Mountain Wagtail - Groenkloof [Pretoria]

The post-parade dust had hardly settled when friends on the rail confirmed another local mega; Mountain Wagtail - under the rail-bridge and back a few hundred yards.. ! Chalk this one up to luck but sometimes the dice fall as they will.. Perhaps not as well-turned out as the WBCS & more aware of the stands, this bird proved even more elusive to photograph. Later it took a bow for our regional ticket, even so. 

There are occasions when circumstance deals a quirky hand so unexpected that the odds are almost a milkshake[illegal]. If the cuckooshrike and the wagtail were light on the toteboard [long-shots] then the Bush Blackcap's maiden visit to Johannesburg is the winner going away. 

Bush Blackcap - Randburg [Johannesburg]

Although stewards have lodged the usual inquiry on the validity of these sightings, considered flukish if not unnatural, I for one hold a winning ticket. So do many other lucky punters. What excitement & what a race!

As an addendum I want to emphasise the good-natured spirit that abounds in SA birding [bird-watching.] I'll annotate for ease of reference:

1. Dirk Maartens Human unselfishly brought the original sighting of the White-breasted Cuckooshrike to our attention via social media; ably supported later by the administrators of the various SIT groups;
2. SARBN [SA Rare bird news], a free service administered by Trevor Hardaker, kept interested members abreast of developments as they unfolded;
3. Dewald Swanepoel and Gisela Ortner highlighted the Mountain Wagtail, a truly unexpected surprise on a day when the cuckooshrike held centre-stage; and
4. I cannot say enough for Gisela Ortner who unselfishly opened her home to the birding community when the Blackcap was first discovered in her garden. 

We live for weeks like these, as ephemeral as the rarities themselves. Whilst the adrenaline does strange things to ordinary people we cannot deny the truth. This is an African Spring!